A new portrait of Lord Martin Rees, Master of Trinity College, will be taking centre stage during a new display at the National Portrait Gallery celebrating the International Year of Astronomy.

The portrait will form part of the Portraits of Astronomers display that will run from 21 March until 12 July. Lord Rees is President of the Royal Society as well as holding the honorary title of Astronomer Royal since 1995. He has also held the Directorship of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, for ten years.

The portrait was painted by Benjamin Sullivan who is a regular exhibitor in the BP Portrait Award. The sitting took place during August 2008 at Trinity College, whose coat of arms can be seen on the plate in the foreground of the painting.

Sullivan aimed to show Lord Rees primarily as an educator and communicator who has reached a general audience through his publications and lectures. Lord Rees won the Michael Faraday Prize for excellence in communicating science in 2004.

Lord Rees’ current research interests are ‘extreme’ cosmic phenomena, black holes, cosmic structure formation and ‘dark matter’. He is interested in not only the scientific aspects of cosmology, but also the philosophical aspects. The laptop on the table, within the painting, shows the life cycle of stars and their explosive demise, one of Lord Rees’s recent research interests.

The Portraits of Astronomers display will also include a group of photographs of UK astronomers taken by acclaimed photographer Lucinda Douglas-Menzies. Her portraits were recently featured during a display at The Michaelhouse as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.

The International Year of the Astronomy coincides with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first glimpses through a telescope. The year is a celebration of astronomy’s contributions to society and culture and aims to give people the chance to get involved and experience the wonders of the night sky.

In addition to regular public open evenings held at the Cambridge Institute for Astronomy, Moonwatch events will also help mark the anniversary year. These events will give members of the public the chance to see the moon using both the modern and historical telescopes at the Institute. Accompanying the viewing sessions, Dr Carolin Crawford will be holding talks about the moon.

For more information about events at the Institute of Astronomy, including Moonwatch, please contact Dr Carolin Crawford: Telephone: (01223) 337510 or email csc@ast.cam.ac.uk. Alternatively visit the Institute’s website: ast.cam.ac.uk.
 

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